BOYS’ TRAINING FARM.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 9 June 1932, Page 6

BOYS’ TRAINING FARM.

CONFERENCE CONSIDERS COMPLAINTS. DEPUTATION TO GO TO MINISTER AND DIRECTOR. \s a result- of many complaints that have been made (by country residents against the conduct of Training Farm Toys a conference arranged by tne Farmers’ Union took place in the Whakatane Club on Tuesday evening. It was attended by about 2o representatives of the Levin, Oliau and Manakau branches of the Farmers’ Union and the Levin -Chamber of Commerce, amongst those present (being Messrs IL Denton and H. J- McLeavey, 1 residents of the Levin and Ohau bi audios of the Union, and Mr S. R. Stedman, President of the Chamber of Conimerce. Mr McLeavey was voted to the chair. _ ~ T In opening the meeting Mr McLeavey detailed the complaints that had been made at a recent meeting of the I* aimers ’ Union and published at the time. The matter had reached such an ax;ute stage that the feeling wa,s that a. com (mission should Ibe asked for to take evidence in the district and at the Faim and enquire into the whole mattei, particularly into the discipline and control of the boys committed to the institution and the liberty allowed them. Mr Stedman . considered that they should not go over the head o± Die manager, -who might only be carrying out the policy of his Department. Mr P. W. Goldsmith agreed with Mi Stedman. As a child welfare officer, ho knew that all the bad boys were not at the Farm, -but there were complaints over a series of years and they mxgh enquire into them. Mr Denton said the manager, Mi Parson son, had approached him after the last Farmers’ Union (meeting, and expressed his willingness to attend the conference if that was desired, oi to arrange for representatives to meet Mr Beck, Superintendent of Child Welfare, at the Harm to discuss the matter. , , . , , The question was debated at some lenotli several speakers expressing the view that independent enquiry was needed. In the course of the discussion many instances were given by resident's In the , neighbourhood of the Farm of objectionable behaviour and destruction of property. It was stated that in certain cases women refused to be left alone in their homes at night, and that boys seemed to be at liberty to be about the roads in the evenings. It was istated that ample evidence could be cited of these statements.

Eventually it Avas decided, as an act of courtesy to the manager to ask him to attend the conference.

Mr Parsonson was telephoned for and shortly after,wards arrived, bringing with him, Mr Burton, a member of the staff.

Mr McLeavey explained the position to the manager, stating there were numerous complaints about the general behaviour of the boys, and it Avas believed that this was due to the lack of discipline and a want of co-opera-tion betAveen the staff and the management. Residents Avere present Avho could give first-hand information in support of these statements. Probably the management Avas Avorking under a system but it was not having the desired effect. There had been trouble throughout the district for some years on account of the depredations of boys, from the Farm, but it seemed to have become intensified lately.

Specific instances of wrong-doing Avere then detailed, by Messrs R. Evans, I. Parsons, H. Mungavin, M. Gorrie, W. 'G. Adlan, G. L. Adkin, and D. V. Brown.

‘ln reply, Mr Parsonson said lie realised that the conference Represented a 'weighty hody of opinion and he felt the responsibility of his position in charge of the Farm, the only institution of its kind in the Dominion. He wanted them to know that he regarded that responsibility very seriously. He took over the management eleven months ago, with some 20 years’ experience in Y.M.C.A. and 'Child Welfare work. He was given to understand that a change of policy was desirable, and was given discretion in introducing a policy that would be for the benefit of both the boys and the community in general. He found that there was no differentiation —all the boys were lumped together in the institution, and he had proceeded to divide them into three sections so that the programme in View could ibe worked out for the benefit of the inmates. He asked the conference to- consider the position of these/boys. They, were sent here from all parts of the Dominion. Many of them had become the victims of bad habits and had lost all sense of regard for the rights of the community and the rights of others. The institution- could not be inn as a house of detention, and if he could not make the Farm an influence for good in the lives of the boys and make it take its place for the good of the community and the Dominion, he . did hot want to have anything to do with it. So he was working out a programme that he was convinced would bear fruit, even though they might say the tree needed pruning. Proceeding, Mr Parsonson said the Farm was getting a different typo of boy to those previously coming in and they had to be handled in a fashion suited to their cases. In the past the ■boys had to fit into the system, whatever the result. The aim now was to train them eventually to take, their place in the community. In doing that they could not run the Farm as a military academy. They tried to develop the sense of responsibility in the boys instead of controlling them as warders. To do that they must have a balanced programme—taking up every hour of the boys’ time. They must put something constructive in the boys’ way, and had got to give them a certain amount of freedom. As citizens interested in the youth welfare of the country he asked for their sympathy with this work, remembering that many of these lads came to the Farm with •tremendous handicaps, resulting from ■their hereditarv or family influences or the surroundings in which they had been living. It was desirable, too, that the money spent in maintenance should show some return in. the rehabilitation

of lads who were something of misfits in the social system. Having dealt with the general principles, Mr Parsonson referred to the particular points (raised. Referring to the liberty allowed the boys, he had instituted there a senior section of 24 boys. They were graded as carefully as possible according to the time they had been at the Farm. They would be the first boys to go out into the community. In the past the system had been to send a boy out from absolute restraint (into perfect freedom. N He would be taken out of the regular routine, called into the manager’s office, given a railway ticket and meal money, and sent away to say Hawera, or some other place. The change was too sudden and his first instinct was to make the imost of his new-found freedom. He believed that if a boy, was given greater responsibility he would measure tip to it. Accordingly this .senior section was lodged in a special cottage, under Mr Burton. He explained how it was sought to inculcate the idea of responsibility. One way in which this was done was to appoint a committee of three boys to take part in the control of the section. Already it was regarded as a very great disgrace for boys to (be taken out of the section and hack to the institution- for misconduct. He denied that the boys were roaming about at all hours. Every evening was booked up and they knew where every boy was. There was strict discipline and punishment was pretty severe. In each case, however, they had to consider the circumstances and the effect of it on the particular boy. There were boys on whom no amount of corporal punishment had any effect, and in any case they were strictly limited by the Act as to the extent of this. With regard to the specific instances quoted by speakers, Mr Parsonson said some of them he had heard of for the first time that night and he asked that where anyone bad any complaint it be made at once so that it could be enquired into. (Some of the other incidents may have oecrurred before Mr Burton arrived and during the transit of the boys from the -Central Development Farm to the Training Farm. That Avas uoav under control. In one case it Avas denied that boys had used obscene language to a lady Avhen travelling along the road in ,a lorry, but the resident who complained was emphatic in his assertion and the meeting accepted his statement.

In conclusion, Mr Parsonson asked for the co-operation of the public and ■that a broad view be taken; of the problem . These boys had not had the opportunity of developing normally and the policy of the Fanx was to give ■them that opportunity and enable them to become useful citizens.

Mr A. J. Gimblett raised the point that it was wrong to- -send criminally inclined boys to the institution and that the- real problem was one of classification.

Mr 'Parsonson -said he agreed that there should be something in the nature of a psychological clinic through which they should pass. However, it was a matter of finance and the Department had not got the facilities or ■the machinery to- make a closer classification.

Mr H. G. Kerislake said what people particularly objected to was that the Department could not Ibe held responsible for the damage done by boys who absconded. The Department stood in the- relation of a parent to its charges, but refused to. accept the private parent’s privilege of paying for the misbehaviour of his children.

The 'Chairman having thanked Messrs (Parsonson and Burton for their attendance, they withdrew.

Brief discussion followed, as a result of which it was decided to take up the general questions raised with the Department, particularly classification and liability for damage;, it being hoped that the solution of these difficulties would tend to relieve the district of the annoyances that it was subjected to. It was decided to ask that the Minister for Education and -Superintendent of Child Welfare receive a deputation at the Farm from the Conference to discuss the matters raised. The following were appointed members of the deputation: Messrs Denton and Gimblett (Levin Farmers’ Union), Evans nmd McLeavey (Ohau Farmers’Union), Kerslake and Goldsmith (Chamber of Commerce), L. H. Atkins (Manakau Farmers’ Union) and Mesdames Atkins and Evans.

Mr Goldsmith agreed to arrange the meeting with the Minister.